Facts About Your Child’s Smile

As children age, it seems like they hit a new milestone every day! This is the exciting, bittersweet part of parenthood, and one of the most fascinating and perplexing parts of a child’s development can be found right inside their mouth.

For starters, parents often discourage sweets to prevent cavities from painfully rotting their children’s teeth. While this is a great tactic, cavity culprits can be found anywhere. Seemingly healthy foods like raisins, fruits, and nuts can contain hazardous amounts of sugar and acids.

Many parents also point to a family history of cavities as proof of genetically predisposed “soft teeth,” but this is more likely to be family lore than fact. Studies have shown that soft teeth are very, very rare, and the reason why some children may be more prone to cavities has more to do with the bacteria in their mouth. Aided by regular dental appointments, brushing, and flossing, most teeth — even your child’s little baby chompers — are designed to protect themselves from cavities.

As your children start to lose those precious baby teeth, their mouth is going to undergo some major changes. It’s not uncommon for parents to worry about their children growing two rows of teeth, but this means that their child’s adult teeth are starting to poke through their gums faster than their baby teeth. This is very common for children, and the best tactic is to simply wait. Once a baby tooth is wiggly, we can encourage the tooth out safely. Your children will be back to one row of healthy adult teeth in no time.

Once teeth do fall out, many parents are concerned when they notice their child’s permanent teeth are yellow. However, you can be rest assured knowing this is completely normal! Adult teeth are naturally larger than baby teeth, which means they have larger amounts of yellow-coloured dentin, one of the four major components of teeth. Because the tooth enamel is translucent, this increase is more readily noticeable when a child’s adult chompers come in.

Our mouths are miraculous, and the transformation your child’s smile undergoes in just a short time is tremendous. Let us help you foster healthy oral hygiene in your child.